


Life Goes On...Life Finds A Way

by Telaryn



Series: The Hero and The Bad Boy [16]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Leverage, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Banter, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Emotional Baggage, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Headcanon, Healing, Jealousy, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Secrets, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-21
Updated: 2013-04-21
Packaged: 2017-12-09 03:04:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/769228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giant mutant flying insects that shoot laser beams from their eyes - it's just a typical day at the office for the Avengers.  S.H.I.E.L.D. is even on site, monitoring their activities and ready to assist if the team needs them.</p><p>What neither side realizes is that the older agent assigned to monitor the Avengers' battlefield communications is somebody whose name carries more weight than his quiet demeanor and bookish appearance would suggest - somebody both sides believe to be dead.</p><p>And his interest in the behavior of one particular Avenger in the field is far more personal than he would have tolerated in any of them once upon a time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Goes On...Life Finds A Way

**Author's Note:**

> I've got to admit - I was blown away by people's reactions to me introducing Coulson as the ultimate Clint/Quinn relationship spoiler. I hope you guys are willing to stick this out with me, because Coulson is a very careful, very particular man, and being true to his character means that we are a long way from any kind of resolution to this storyline.

“Tony, are you _trying_ to get your ass shot off?” Clint came to full draw and loosed an arrow at the flying… _Wasp? Beetle? Do we even have a name for these things?_ Whatever they were he decided, as his shaft thudded home and the creature dropped with a high-pitched scream of agony, the laser beams from their eyes were definitely overkill.

Iron Man banked smoothly around his position. “Just trying to keep you from getting bored there, Legolas.”

Clint barely managed to keep from rolling his eyes. “Little less chatter people,” Cap drawled over the comms – Clint noticed with a smirk that Steve had given the order with almost no expectation that it was going to be followed. “Hawkeye, have you figured out where they’re coming from yet?”

Swearing under his breath now, Clint scanned the horizon again. “Negative, Cap. They’re still coming from all directions – whoever’s controlling these things understands the idea of surrounding and overwhelming your enemy.”

“We could use a little overwhelming of our own,” Tony said, taking out two more of the creatures with his hand-repulsors. “Just sayin’ – might be time for a big green rage monster to put in an appearance.”

“You know we promised the mayor after last time,” Steve countered. “Only as a last resort, or when the public is in mortal peril.”

Two of the bugs zeroed in on Tony again – Clint took out one, while Stark flambéd the other. “We’re the public, aren’t we?” Tony whined.

“Shut it Stark,” Natasha snapped. Clint smiled in spite of their current frustrations, recognizing the protective tone in her voice. The Black Widow and the Hulk were an unlikely pair, but he could tell the relationship was having a positive effect on his partner’s life. He’d accused her just that morning of being in love with the quiet, bookish scientist. She’d shot back immediately that “love is for children”, dismissing his accusation, but Clint hadn’t missed the faint blush of color on her perfect, pale skin.

“While I appreciate the target practice,” Natasha said, jerking Clint out of his memory, “if we don’t find where these things are coming from soon, that’s all this is going to end up being.”

“I’ve been looking,” Clint asserted, nocking two arrows and taking out a pair of the flyers with a single shot. “I’m telling you – we’re dealing with some kind of hive mind here. I don’t think the king or queen, or whoever’s controlling them is even close.”  
********************  
It was an accurate threat assessment. S.H.I.E.L.D. had already zeroed in on the signal that appeared to be directing the flyers and agents were being dispatched to conduct recon on the location. The Avengers would only be redirected if necessary; it was more important for them to remain visible, dealing with the immediate threat of giant mutant yellow jackets capable of firing laser beams from their eyes.

Listening to the chatter over the comms, Coulson was grateful he’d set his controls to receive only; the temptation was overwhelming to step in and begin directing the team as though he’d never left them. He already knew he disagreed with the bargain Steve had mentioned. Making nice with the Mayor of New York City was fine in and of itself, but you never let a politician corner you into taking your big guns out of play.

They couldn’t know he was alive, though. _Not yet._

 _“You day-dreaming down there, Legolas?”_ There was the sound of two more repulsor blasts over the comm and the twang of a bowstring. _“Your boy-toy isn’t going to be happy if we get you home all bruised up.”_

 _”Quinn likes it when he’s all bruised and bloody.”_ That was Natasha. Coulson realized with a jolt that his hands had clenched into fists on the console. _You’re not jealous,_ he told himself, forcing his hands open and flat and trying to convince himself that his heart rate hadn’t suddenly spiked on hearing the name of Clint’s lover. _It makes no sense for you to be jealous._

 _“Blow me Nat,”_ Clint retorted. His bowstring twanged twice in a matter of seconds, and Coulson heard the death-screams of two more flyers.

 _”I’m not distracting you people by wiping out the giant killer bees too loudly, am I?”_ Steve asked pointedly.

 _”My problem is that he gets all broody and distracted when you’re hurt,”_ Tony continued, as though Cap hadn’t said a word. _”And then he’s useless to me.”_ Jonah Quinn was working for Stark Industries now, Coulson recalled. He’d gone straight, as the saying went…for Clint. It was a powerful argument against Nick Fury’s assessment of him and told Coulson too much about the team’s support for Clint’s unconventional relationship.

 _”You’re just jealous,”_ Clint retaliated. _”You know he’s the only man on the planet that can hold a candle to Cap and he won’t give you the time of day.”_ Coulson frowned. There was certainty in Clint’s voice, as well as pride in the man he’d taken into his life. _He’s not yours. Not anymore._ It wasn’t just the factor of his new relationship – Coulson suspected as the battlefield chatter continued to filter into his comm that he could have lived with Clint rejecting him personally and choosing to pursue a relationship with somebody else. The idea that they could ever work as a couple boggled the mind of even the most die-hard romantic.

The longer he listened to Barton’s voice on his comm though, the more certain Coulson grew that Clint was well and truly lost to S.H.I.E.L.D. as an asset. He was an Avenger now, in every sense of the word – the memory of endless hours of idle conversation between them told Coulson more clearly than any psych evaluation that Clint was happy now. His banter with the others was easy – almost playful – where before it had always tended too heavily towards the sarcastic.

 _With everyone except you._ Coulson didn’t like the thought – it hurt more than it should have. It _hurt_ thinking how much he’d emotionally invested of himself in what had only factually ever been a partially requited crush. He couldn’t remember ever opening up to anyone as deeply as he had Clint Barton over the years. _You’re never going to get that closeness back._ Professionally, Clint had grown past what S.H.I.E.L.D. could offer him – Director Fury’s wishes aside, Coulson was quickly becoming convinced that persuading him to return to the fold was only going to benefit S.H.I.E.L.D.

Personally though… _I need to understand for myself if Jonah Quinn is a positive or negative influence in Barton’s life._ Even though he suspected deep down that what he found was only going to reinforce every conclusion Fury didn’t want him to make, Coulson knew that Clint’s history and his own too-strong feelings for the archer mandated that he keep going until he knew for certain that Barton was where he both wanted and needed to be.

He was going to have to get to know Jonah Quinn. Personally.

And if possible, keep from killing the man.


End file.
